Nora munches on some peanut butter to get ready for her weather prediction. Saturday, February 1, 2014. Photo by Adrianna Hoff/Times Herald Staff.

NORRISTOWN — Local parents both superstitious and logical came to have their fortunes told at the Elmwood Park Zoo before the pregame hype began on Sunday.

With four to eight inches of winter weather on the horizon, moms and dads weary of more snow days wanted to go straight to the source of weather prediction: Nora the Groundhog.

According to the zoo’s Education Manager Sam Navarino, who had a hand in bringing the female groundhog to the zoo from Long Island, Nora has a one hundred percent prediction success rate in her first two years with the Elmwood Park franchise.

That beats old Punxsutawney-What’s-His-Name by 68 percent. That is correct. The groundhog grandmaster of Bill Murray’s misery has only been right 32 percent of the time, according to Navarino.

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Since her breakout rookie year in weather prediction, Nora has been looking for a way to top that first season in the league. Here is where the superstitious parents bit their lips and crossed their fingers: This year, Nora is trying her hand at football outcomes.

Not surprisingly, groundhogs, like humans, also feast for at least 12 hours before kick-off. Elmwood Park Zoo staff laid Nora’s two favorite snacks, peanut butter and bananas, at opposing Seahawk-Bronco ends of the prediction table.

Slowly but surely, Nora made her way to the side she was certain would win. Drumroll... Nora chooses the Seahawks for the win.

Only a few dads could be seen rushing their fingers to a fantasy football app to check the last minute stats. Half of the children gathered around Nora cheered wildly while the other half exclaimed in some form of “No, the Broncos!”

Nora did not see her shadow once throughout the festivities despite those ominous weather reports of snow for the next day and a sun that sporadically burst through the clouds around noon.

Navarino, who also acts as Nora’s PR person, said since Nora’s recent rise to celebrity status, she has had a member of the zoo staff hold an umbrella above her during all outdoor activities.

The news of the Seahawks prediction did not sit right with a majority of the female staff at the zoo, according to Navarino.

“All the girls here were rooting for the Broncos,” Navarino explained. “Some women might not care about the Superbowl but it’s a big deal around here. But, Nora’s a girl, so she’s always right. We’ll just have to trust her for now.”

Male or female, Broncos or Seahawks, all the children gathered around Nora joined in song during the prediction ceremony. To the tune of “I’m a little teapot,” the children sang “I’m a little groundhog, short and brown. I live in a burrow deep in the ground.”

The song was written on take-home bookmarks for all the children that attended the ceremony.

According to Navarino, the sweetest reward of the job is for children to take something to heart from an experience with animals.

The crowd of children at the zoo Sunday included many that attended the zoo’s summer camp. Nora is “target trained” to go and retrieve small objects. One of the camp goers applied what she learned from Nora in the camp to target train her guinea pigs at home.

Navarino said the parent came up to her to tell how much that experience changed her child’s perspective.

“It was really cool to see how kids take what they learn home with them,” Navarino said.

After the ceremonies, there were even more educational experiences waiting for the children. And like all good pregame festivities, there were snacks for everyone with a popcorn maker bringing the smells of the stadium to the zoo.

In the zoo’s Canopy Gardens Hall, tables were set up with arts and crafts and interactive games.

Children had to pick the right habitat and diets for groundhogs while zoo staff assisted and provided fun groundhog facts. They were also given the chance to feel real groundhog fur and build an educational booklet using crayons, glue and photos of wildlife that lives in the forest with groundhogs.

With six weeks left to prove Nora infallible, the rest of the zoo animals are hopeful for the spring weather and the return of the giraffes are on their way.